Discretionary Grants: Opportunities To Improve Federal Discretionary Award Practices

Weekly Updates

LegiStorm is constantly adding new information on the people, places and reports in our database. In the past week, LegiStorm added:

376 new people
171 new organizations
408 new photos
1234 job history records for people in our database
653 education records for people in our database
1467 contact addresses, emails and URLs (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)
3 new people through the revolving door
109 new policy reports
43 new trips to our privately funded travel database
629 new personal financial disclosures
15148 new press releases
11 new town halls
25 new hearings

Caught Our Eye Rss

Some legislators prioritize talk, not action

by Heavyn Lester on 09/23/2024
Former state sen. joins conservative immigration group

by Heavyn Lester on 09/17/2024
Some representatives are burning through their budgets

by Heavyn Lester on 09/16/2024
Burlison hires foul-mouthed comms specialist

by Andy Gottlieb on 09/13/2024
Lobbyist returns to Senate as chief of staff

by Heavyn Lester on 09/12/2024

» More from Caught Our Eye

Follow @LegiStorm

LegiStorm adds House Q2 salaries and expenses

2024-09-05
Latest Senate salary and expense records published

2024-06-10
LegiStorm adds House Q1 salaries and expenses

2024-06-05
LegiStorm adds Q4 salary analytics and turnover data

2024-03-14

» More from our DevBlog

Lobbyists exploit massive loophole to wine and dine lawmakers, aides at fancy getaways

by Politico on 09/22/2024
Vulnerable Dem senator who touts record 'fighting' lobbyists has long history of hiring them

by Fox News on 09/18/2024
Kamala Harris ran her office like a prosecutor. Not everyone liked that.

by The Washingon Post on 09/09/2024
Letter: Van Ostern’s recent flyer

by Concord Monitor on 08/29/2024

Premium Download PDF Now (36 pages)

Report Type	Reports and Testimonies
Report Date	Sept. 15, 1986
Report No.	HRD-86-108
Subject	Federal grants Community development programs Discretionary grants Educational grants Funds management Grant administration Grant award procedures Grant monitoring Internal controls Program management Dept. of Commerce Public Works and Development Facilities Program Dept. of Education Bilingual Education Program EPA Consolidated Research Program Pesticides Control Research Grant UMTA Technical Studies Grant Urban Development Action Grant Women's Educational Equity Act Program

Summary:

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal management of discretionary assistance programs, specifically the policies and practices agency officials use to decide which eligible applicants receive awards and how much they receive.

GAO found that: (1) most federal discretionary grant programs have competitive processes to solicit and review applications; (2) nearly two-thirds attempt to solicit applications from all eligible applicants; and (3) over three-fourths use persons from outside the program office to provide an independent perspective in the review of applications. GAO believes that the discretionary grant process could be strengthened in many programs to enhance competition and promote accountability for award decisions through: (1) more rigorous review of unsolicited applications; (2) internal review of decisions restricting the scope of applicant solicitation; (3) the use of independent reviews; and (4) managerial accountability for deviation from reviewers' recommendations in the award decision process.

« Return to search Government Accountability Office reports

Weekly Updates

Caught Our Eye Rss

Social Media

DevBlog Rss

In the News

Discretionary Grants: Opportunities To Improve Federal Discretionary Award Practices